Gas workers discover 800-year-old burial site in Peru, remains of six children found

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered eight burial bundles, some 800 years old, six of them of children, during the installation of gas pipes in a neighbourhood in the capital city of Lima.

The archaeologists were called to the scene two weeks ago when workers from the gas company Calidda wereexcavating in the Carabayllo district, located north of the city of Lima.Six of the bundles were found around 100 metres away from the previous discovery of 28 graves. The researchers also recovered some pottery and other ceramic artefacts at the scene as well.

Cause of death

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The findings suggest that the place may have been a cemetery for children who died from severe anaemia resulting from a climate event that would have hit local agriculture, back in the day.

"Nutritional stress might have caused the children's mortality rate, explaining why we found more burials of infants in these cemeteries," said Jesus Bahamonde Schreiber, an archaeologist hired by Calidda.

"During that time there must have been some kind of social activity that generated some kind of problem, perhaps alimentary, which caused the child mortality rate to rise and that's why we find more child burials in these cemeteries."

According to preliminary investigation, the discovery could be linked to thepre-Inca Ychma and Chancay cultures that developed in what is now northern Peru and along its central coastline.

Notably, it is not the first time such mass graves have been discovered in Peru. Since Peru was home tovarious pre-Hispanic cultures that thrived in the centuries before the Inca empire rose to power, such discoveries are not a new phenomenon.

Watch |Remains of ancient humans found in Peru's Chan Chan

In November 2021, archaeologists discovered a mass grave containing the remains of around 25 people whileexcavating the ruins of Chan Chan, which served as the capital of the Chimú Empire in what’s now northern Peru until the 15th century. Additionally, researchers also found dozens of ceramic vessels in the grave.

(With inputs from agencies)

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